BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 (Red)

• Average user rating: 2.5 stars out of 17 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars

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• 8 stars

  Beautiful flip phone with Blackberry goodness.

  by wheelbarreler on January 9, 2009

  Pros: Excellent graphic interface. Beautifully designed (except for that Pearl keyboard). Great support and message board at RIM Blackberry website.

  Cons: Haven't run into any problems that weren't quickly fixed.

  Summary: I already have the Blackberry brick (I forget the model number...the one with the scroll bar) and I love the features and its durability. Matched with T-Mobile bandwidth and ...

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  Summary: I already have the Blackberry brick (I forget the model number...the one with the scroll bar) and I love the features and its durability. Matched with T-Mobile bandwidth and service, it continues to be a hassle free phone that was reliable and fun to use. So, when my countdown of days went into the single digits on crappy Sprint-service Motorola phone on my other number (a miserable 730 days), I considered the T-Mobile-Blackberry permutation, again.
  
  I could have settled for a phone with less features. I didn't need email and web on this phone, but the Pearl flip looked great and the local Best Buy had it for a great price for a plan that didn't require a data plan (rarer and rarer these days). I probably would have gone with a full QWERTY keyboard with a wider screen if I needed to access email on the new phone. For calls and contacts, this phone fit the bill nicely.
  
  Others can comment on its web and email applications. I didn't add these features to my $39.99 plan. For me, all the basics were there: good call quality; great battery life (after some troubleshooting); all sorts of memory for contacts; excellent graphic interface (the way icons are "lit" when selected against a deep black background still looks so cool after a week).
  
  A few words about the design and materials used. Some have already pointed out that the cover is a fingerprint magnet. I think it's because the cover is a thick glass (at least, it looks and feels that way). The fingerprints are unavoidable and it is the price you pay for having a sleek shiny black surface under glass (or something very close to glass). Real metal, not silver paint on plastic, frames the edges. The materials used in this phone makes the LG's look like disposable Bic lighters. The phone flips open to a decent-size display (for a flip phone) and a keypad that is pleasant to the touch (not so much the eye). The Pearl keyboard was a little cumbersome entering my first few contacts' names, but you get used to the layout of letters on the keys.
  
  Again, the combination of T-Mobile and RIM is marvelous. Actual marveling on my part. Again, after a dismal period of bondage to Sprint and Motorola. T-Mobile will help you set up the phone, but RIM has a Blackberry website that has a great message board for those common initial questions. The kind folks at T-Mobile even grandfathered me into a sweet older plan that's on my current T-Mobile phone. T-Mobile also carries some very nice accessories for the phone (like a leather case that fits like a glove).
  
  Here's something I discovered at the Blackberry website for those of you who won't go in on the data plan (grr...the recession). The Pearl Flip phones are pre-configured to have Bluetooth and data service turned on right out of the box. Bluetooth will, of course, take its share of battery life. But if you have the data service on and you don't have a data plan on the phone, the phone will be constantly hunting for a connection. This, as I found out, will heavily sap the battery. Turning both of those off keeps the battery life long and prosperous.
  
  I'm only into my second week and if something major comes up, I'll post an update. Right now, I feel like a kid with a fresh pair of Jordans on the first day of school.
  
  Note to software developers: The screen dimensions and the deep black screen are perfect for old-school arcade games. Please, start with Tempest. Then Galaga, Centipede and Tron, in that order.
  
  Updated on Jan 9, 2009

  correction: Wi-fi, and not Bluetooth, is preset to "on" out of the box.
  
  Updated on Jan 18, 2009

  I've had the phone now for a couple weeks. Apparently, turning off the wi-fi and the data service didn't solve the battery drain issue. An earlier reviewer had the same problem, too. The T-Mobile technical solutions phone operator guided me through a complete reboot. That seems to have done the trick for now.
  
  I also mentioned the T-Mobile phone cases in the main review. I purchased the case for the specific model a couple weeks ago and, although it fits the phone snugly, there's a perplexing design/material decision that affects the look of the case. Almost all of T-Mobile's new cases have loops of string threaded through two small holes at the bottom of the case. The thread will loosen and, evenually, unravel into an unsightly tangle. I thought something like that would happen, but not nearly so soon. It's odd that they would make a decision about the cosmetic look of a product that makes the product less attractive after a couple weeks. An uncharacteristic goof.
  
  Updated on Feb 4, 2009

  The fixes the T-Mobile tech guy recommended (rebooting) seems to have handled the battery drain. Another nice attribute of the phone: my voice on the phone when I hear it on replay on voicemail messages I leave sounds closer to my voice than on any phone I've used before. The handset call volume could be a bit louder, but speaker phone is very clear. On a related matter, I mentioned I ported from Sprint. Boy, the nightmare with them doesn't stop. They sent me a non-prorated bill for my last month. They bill in advance so I should actually have had a complete month free. If the Public Utlities Commission doesn't pick up on this, some class action lawyer should. This is the sort of corporate bone-headedness that costs the consumer and won't get corrected unless it hits the corporate bosses in their pocketbooks. Really, I don't know any company that fails so miserably at what they do. Thank goodness for competition and choice. Thank goodness for T-Mobile. Sorry for venting.

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  3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 1 stars

  Two defective phones in a row plus poor reception

  by TestPrep on September 15, 2009

  Pros: Features. Sound quality.

  Cons: Defective phones. Poor reception.

  Summary: Two dead phones in the first 2 weeks. The first wouldn't even fully power up. On partial first charge, the battery overheated while not in use or connected to ...

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  Summary: Two dead phones in the first 2 weeks. The first wouldn't even fully power up. On partial first charge, the battery overheated while not in use or connected to a charger and the phone died. The replacement seemed to work OK but stopped taking a charge and died after 2 weeks. Even when it worked reception was not great - other TMobile phones got reception in the same locations where it would not.
  
  Obviously there is a quality control problem here.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 7 stars

  The Flip is a good phone and a fresh idea for RIM.

  by DrHyde25 on January 8, 2009

  Pros: Blackberry in a nice flip form, 3.5mm headset jack, Wifi calling and web browsing, external screen allows for viewing various information, both displays are beautiful, included media conversion software works excellently.

  Cons: Battery life is a bit uneven, Wifi hiccups every now and then, OS is a bit slow and buggy at times, smudge magnet, headset volume a tad low.

  Summary: First of all, my initial experience with this phone was very bad. I've owned quite a few cell phones and after so many decent to good ones, I finally ...

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  Summary: First of all, my initial experience with this phone was very bad. I've owned quite a few cell phones and after so many decent to good ones, I finally hit a defective model. I almost gave up hope on this one, but the replacement has only had one freeze-up. So, for now, I'll say that this phone is going to go the distance.
  
  The phone itself is very eye-catching. I frequently get asked about it. Although the phone does look a bit big, it's really light and it fits nicely in your pocket. However, the glassy finish smudges easily, so you'll find yourself cleaning it off a lot. Externally, the phone has 5 buttons (Mute, volume keys, and two customizable soft keys), an external MicroSD card slot, a 3.5mm headset jack, and micro USB hook-up that doubles for data transfer and the power adapter. The 3.5mm jack is a huge plus, allowing any headphones to be attached. That right there was practically a selling point for me. However, to sweeten it up even more, the volume keys allow you to view previews of e-mails, text messages, and caller ID. These little touches make it a nice phone. The external screen isn't customizable outside of changing the clock type, but it does display picture ID very nicely thanks to its large size.
  
  Flipping open the phone, aside the overall extraordinary length of the phone when opened, you'll find that the keys are much larger than the old Pearls. This helps out a lot when you have big hands like myself. The new SureType software is much more accurate than the older versions and usually corrects itself after one or two tries of making a mistake, which is rare in itself.
  
  The phone is running OS 4.6 and I must say that while it looks very nice, the processor for this phone is about half of the Bold or Storm, so there a bit of sluggishness here and there. Not terrible, but you might need to wait a second or two when accessing something, mainly applications and large picture and video files seem to ones that cause this.
  
  The phone is a Hotspot at Home phone, but you can make Wifi calls even without the special T-Mobile router. Because the phone lacks 3G, you'll find that any browsing of the web must be done with wifi as gprs and EDGE just don't really cut it. However, you need to go to the wifi setup menu when in wifi range and use Wifi Hotspot Login to browse the web or T-Mobile will prevent you browsing while trying to sell you their web2go service. While the phone is supposed to switch seamlessly between wifi and regular service, I did notice that the phone struggled occasionally to switch over to either. Not a major issue, but you might lose a call sometimes.
  
  I did find battery life uneven. Sometimes I could go all day and go to 85% while other days it would take it closer to 50% with only light use. However, I did chat with a friend for 2 1/2 hours on wifi starting at 80% and ending at around 40%, so I think it's safe to say that 4 hours talk time is probably about correct. I found that leaving the media player running in the background caused a faster drain of the battery so one should be aware of that.
  
  The headset volume is a bit on the low side even at max with treble boost. However, I found that the volume was louder over a wifi signal than standard cell tower. Why this is, I don't know, but you'll find that calls will be better over UMA.
  
  For a final breakdown, I think the media player is much improved over the original Pearl, though it doesn't have custom EQ settings, with a decent set of headphones, this phone works great for light to medium music listening. The included Roxio software makes transferring, converting and optimizing videos excellent. Of course, this is a Blackberry and it comes with all of the standard organizing features including Word/Sheet/Slideshow To Go, push e-mail, messaging clients, and what-not. Camera quality was fair for 2.0 MP. I thought the colors were a bit washed out. The flash does work pretty well. Videos are limitied to a pretty small resolution however.
  
  All in all, I think this is a good phone for someone wanting to step up to a smartphone who doesn't want to lose the aesthetic style of a flip or doesn't want to be overwhelmed by the more business-centric models.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 6 stars

  Very Nice Phone

  by blue1922 on November 3, 2008

  Pros: I am pleased with the internet features and the overall look of the phone. I've always been a flip phone fanatic and it's the most sophisticated flip phone I've ever owned.

  Cons: There seems to be several menus (and menus within menus) for everything and it can be quite overwhelming when you're used to having a simple cellphone.

  Summary: Overall, I think this phone is very comfortable to use but it definitely takes a little while to get used to. This is my first Blackberry and I'm pleased ...

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  Summary: Overall, I think this phone is very comfortable to use but it definitely takes a little while to get used to. This is my first Blackberry and I'm pleased with the product. I had a little trouble with my external notifications and had to pop out the battery to get the display working appropriately again. I also had some issues trying to find the Auto Answer function, but I used the Blackberry Community Forums and it was very helpful in addressing that problem (the guide book was a bit unclear as to how to locate this particular function). Those are the only problems to date. I wouldn't recommend this phone for those that don't like technology and would simply like a phone that makes and receives calls.
  
  Updated on Jan 7, 2010

  It's several months later and I've had 2 replacement phones. The first flip that I had was doing okay until it got buggy about 6 months after I bought it. I suspected that it could have been themes that I downloaded to the phone but my replacement phone had the same problems within a few months of getting it. The camera stopped working and started freezing, causing the phone to reboot. The phone also shuts itself off randomly and the only way to get it to come on is to pop out the battery. Because T-mobile won't replace my phone with another model, I'm going with another service provider. T-Mobile doesn't even sell the flip anymore which to me implies that the phone model is defective. Also check out the Crackberry forums to see the chatter about the defectiveness of this product. I'll probably give the Blackberry Curve 8330 a try.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 4 stars

  Poor Reception for the first five months. Now none.

  by justaguyinmntooo on October 4, 2010

  Pros: Great Phone until we tried to make a call with it. If you're sitting or standing underneath a Cell Tower Great ! Otherwise, buy a different handset.

  Cons: Incredibly poor reception for five months then the receiver died.

  Summary: Find a different handset. We're not the first users or owners of the RIM BB 8220 to experience poor reception and sadly I doubt we'll be the last. ...

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  Summary: Find a different handset. We're not the first users or owners of the RIM BB 8220 to experience poor reception and sadly I doubt we'll be the last. If RIM continues to build products with quality attributes such as this it will be RIP for them.. (they don't stand behind their products either)

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• 8 stars

  Overall Great phone

  by lydiawilliams2 on August 15, 2010

  Pros: -Great looking phone. Flip-Style prevents pressing buttons on accident.
  -Screen has clear pictures
  -Great storage capability
  -Music player is great and easy to use
  -immediate access to emails

  Cons: - camera started out good but after 3 months, the pictures weren't clear anymore.
  - processor extremely slow... especially when online

  Summary: I have had this phone for 1 1/2 years.. I am an extremely accident prone person and have dropped this phone more than a hundred times and it still ...

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  Summary: I have had this phone for 1 1/2 years.. I am an extremely accident prone person and have dropped this phone more than a hundred times and it still works great. My two gripes are that the camera went fuzzy after 3 months and the web is slow... other than that, the phone is extremely easy to use. It's still working just fine.

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• 2 stars

  Wasn't impressed

  by daman66 on August 11, 2009

  Pros: Received the same cell coverage as usual. took good pictures. some games to play. was able to put some music on the device.

  Cons: had the phone for 8 days. WiFi only worked at home. couldn't register anywhere else. roller ball quit working during this time. menus are not quick and easy to use. Not as compatiable with computer as advertised. Battery lasted day and half.

  Summary: Unless you have time to waste to learn all the complicated stuff involved, then get another phone. Half the stuff didn't work. I had the phone for 8 days ...

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  Summary: Unless you have time to waste to learn all the complicated stuff involved, then get another phone. Half the stuff didn't work. I had the phone for 8 days and stuff already started breaking or didn't work at all. Don't waste your time with this unless you like the feeling of disappointment. I tested this phone between Georgia and Alaska and gave it back due to lack of being user friendly. I have an I-touch that can do more that is much easier to use.

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• 1 stars

  worst blackberry ever owned

  by mikepen1222 on August 8, 2009

  Pros: nothing at all

  Cons: everything, nothing works properly with this phone

  Summary: by far the worst smart phone ive owned, have had it about 2 months and have called numerous times about non stop problems with the wi-fi, the phone shutting off ...

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  Summary: by far the worst smart phone ive owned, have had it about 2 months and have called numerous times about non stop problems with the wi-fi, the phone shutting off randomly, or locking up while trying to send emails and messages, will do everything in my power to get rid of this terrible divice.

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• 4 stars

  For a Normal Phone, Good. For a Blackberry, Terrible.

  by directorlj on April 19, 2009

  Pros: Excellent reception, sound quality and radio strength

  Cons: Processor in this device is so slow as to render it unusable for anyone but a casual email and message user. T-Mo's claims this a "known issue" with the phone and therefore, nothing they could do about it!! Frustrating waste of money. Beware!

  Summary: This phone is nearly impossible to use for anything other than phone calls and light emailing and messaging. The new browser renders images unreadably small. Magnification adds too many steps ...

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  Summary: This phone is nearly impossible to use for anything other than phone calls and light emailing and messaging. The new browser renders images unreadably small. Magnification adds too many steps and the slow processor can't handle it. This phone is a disaster.

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• 8 stars

  What a fun phone!

  by Zealot4Jesus on March 21, 2009

  Pros: Sleek look, text messaging is fun and so easy to use even without a standard qwerty keyboard, many great features, great phone to stay organized, speakerphone loud & clear
  Light weight
  Decent battery life

  Cons: Phone keeps shutting off for no reason. VERY annoying. Doesn't allow me to program it to where it will continue to beep until I check my vm msgs/text msgs. I'm sure others don't care much for this feature but it's always helped me :-)

  Summary: I am loving this phone! Like blue1922, I too am a flip phone fanatic. I really wanted one. I missed my razr flip phone so much but it was junk ...

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  Summary: I am loving this phone! Like blue1922, I too am a flip phone fanatic. I really wanted one. I missed my razr flip phone so much but it was junk and I had to get rid of it. I didn't want to look back but with this phone, I didn't have to! I got a flip phone that I wanted and so much more! With this phone, you get all the features of the typical blackberry phone but in a more attractive package. The predictive text is something I've never seen! It's very precise and in no time I can send pretty long text msgs. I don't have the data plan so I couldn't comment on how that's like on this phone. All the other features work great. The one thing I am not liking is the fact that this phone often shuts off for no reason at all. I have to take the battery out and put it back in. Also, the phone takes a while to start up. That's pretty annoying as well. I may have a lemon or something. I plan to have it replaced with a new blackberry flip. Very satisfied with my Blackberry!

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